Since a vehicle has been equipped with more and more diversified interior functions in the past few decades, the electricity consumed by the vehicle has also significantly increased. Twenty years ago, the power of electric generators for common medium-sized automobiles took approximately 500 W, which has risen to 1000 W nowadays. It clearly demonstrates the rising trend in automobile power consumption. This means more fuel consumption by the automobile (to drive the electric generator) and more greenhouse gases produced, which is detrimental to the environment and ecology. Although hybrid electric vehicles and electric automobiles have already been designed presently, they face difficulties in prevalence due to the problems of high production cost and few charging station deployment.
With respect to the above mentioned problems, the inventor of the present invention has ever invented a clutch-type electric generator capable of being applied to axles of conventional automobiles, hybrid electric automobiles or electric automobiles, as shown in FIG. 1 of the present invention, so as to enhance the energy utilization efficiency of the automobile and, in the meantime, to enable the automobile to actively utilize the kinetic energy while driving to achieve the dual purposes of “saving energy” and “generating electricity”. Please refer to FIG. 1 again, the clutch-type electric generator 3 is installed on an automobile and comprises a casing 31, a stator base 32, a rotor base 33 and a clutch mechanism 4, wherein an outer rim of the casing 31 is fixed to a suspension device 23 of the automobile, the casing 31 is configured with a containing space inside which is configured with holes at the front end and the rear end, respectively, and an axle 21 of the automobile penetrates the casing 31 via the holes and rotates with respect to the casing 31, and the containing space contains the stator base 32, the rotor base 33 and the clutch mechanism 4. The stator base 32 is fixed to an inner rim of the casing 31 and comprises a plurality of stators 321 (such as coils) disposed along the perimeter of the axle 21 which is electrically connected to a power module of the automobile. The rotor base 33 is movably disposed around an outer rim of the axle 21 through a bearing 24 and is positioned between the stator base 32 and the axle 21, wherein the rotor base 33 comprises a plurality of rotors 331 (such as field magnets) also disposed along the perimeter of the axle 21, each of the plurality of rotors 331 correspond to each of the plurality of stators 321, respectively, and keeps a predetermined gap with each of the plurality of stators 321.
Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2, the clutch mechanism 4 is installed within the casing 31 at a position near a wheel 22 of the automobile and comprises a passive ring 41, a clutch disc 42, a plurality of connecting rods 43, a plurality of clutch shoes 44 and a plurality of elastic devices 45, wherein a side of the passive ring 41 is concentrically fixed on a side of the rotor base 33 so that the passive ring 41 and the rotor base 33 simultaneously rotate with respect to the axle 21 as a rotating center, and an inner rim of the passive ring 41 is configured with a plurality of first engagement parts 411 along the perimeter thereof. The clutch disc 42 is positioned in a hollow portion of the passive ring 41, and a penetrating hole 421 is configured at the center of the clutch disc 42, wherein the penetrating hole 421 is configured with an engagement groove 422, so that the axle 21 penetrates the penetrating hole 421 and engages with the engagement groove 422 for enabling the clutch disc 42 to simultaneously rotate along with the axle 21. An end of each of the plurality of connecting rods 43 is pivotally connected to the clutch disc 42, and a middle section of each of the plurality of clutch shoes 44 is pivotally connected to the other end of each of the plurality of connecting rods 43, respectively, to move between an outer rim of the clutch disc 42 and the inner rim of the passive ring 41, wherein each of the plurality of clutch shoes 44 is configured with a second engagement part 441 corresponding to each of the plurality of first engagement parts 411. Each of the plurality of elastic devices 45 has an end connected to the clutch disc 42 and the other end correspondingly connected to each of the plurality of clutch shoes 44, respectively, to apply elastic force on the plurality of clutch shoes 44 so that a side of each of the plurality of clutch shoes 44 opposite to the second engagement part 441 presses against the outer rim of the clutch disc 42 to keep a predetermined distance between each of the plurality of first engagement parts 411 and each of the plurality of second engagement parts 441.
Thus, when the clutch disc 42 is simultaneously rotated by the axle 21 in a speed (i.e., the rotation speed of the axle 21 or the wheel 22) unable to generate a sufficient centrifugal force for the plurality of clutch shoes 44 to overcome the elastic force, the plurality of first engagement parts 411 does not engage and mesh with the corresponding plurality of second engagement parts 441 and thus the passive ring 41 along with the rotor base 33 do not rotate along with the axle 21 (as shown in FIG. 2); in other words, the kinetic energy generated by the automobile at this time does not simultaneously drive the rotor base 33. On the contrary, when the rotation speed of the clutch disc 42 (i.e., the rotation speed of the axle 21 or the wheel 22) is higher enough to generate a sufficient centrifugal force for the plurality of clutch shoes 44 to overcome the elastic force, an outer rim of the each of the plurality of clutch shoes 44 is pressed against the inner rim of the passive ring 41 by the centrifugal force, so that the plurality of second engagement parts 441 engages and meshes with the corresponding plurality of first engagement parts 411, and the passive ring 41 along with the rotor base 33 are then rotating along with the axle 21; at this time, the plurality of rotors 331 on the rotor base 33 rotates along with the axle 21 as the rotating center and generates a time-varying magnetic field and subsequently generates induced electricity on the plurality of stators 321, where the induced electricity is stored in the power module.
Though the clutch-type electric generator 3 can be easily installed in any types of automobiles without changing the frame structures thereof, however, since the clutch-type electric generator 3 is only being activated to generate electricity through utilizing the kinetic energy of the axle 21 when the automobile is running in a high speed (such as above 20 km per hour). In case, the automobile is only running in a low speed (such as below 20 km per hour), the clutch-type electric generator 3 cannot be activated to generate electricity. In order to overcome the disadvantage of the clutch-type electric generator 3 as mentioned above, the inventor of the present invention is then focusing on how to enable the automobile to efficiently utilize the vibration continuously generated by a suspension system thereof no matter the automobile is running in a low or high speed, so as to effectively enhance the energy utilization efficiency of the automobile, which is also a crucial topic to be solved in the present invention.